Ex-student in Shard summit claim

A former student who says he scaled Europe's tallest building has claimed he could do so again "tomorrow" in spite of increased security.

Bradley L Garrett claimed his group of urban "explorers" has climbed the 1016ft (310m) Shard in London "half a dozen" times and could do so again in spite of security being stepped up at the site.

"It is impossible to secure a site that big. The security guards that work on the site are only human, no-one wants to sit there watching cameras 12 hours a day, they are going to have to take breaks, they are going to have to take walks," he said.

"There are going to be times when they are not watching, there are going to be times when they are changing shifts."

But the 31-year-old, from Los Angeles in the US, who completed a PhD on urban exploration in February, said he and his group had "done with" the Shard for now.

"We do not break anything, we do not alter anything, 90% of the time no-one even knows we have been in and out of the place," he added.

Mr Garrett, who lives in Clapham, south-west London, said his group had first scaled the building to watch New Year's Eve fireworks over London in December 2010.

His comments come after pictures apparently showing a group of trespassers posing at the top of the unfinished skyscraper were posted on Mr Garrett's web blog Place Hacking.

The series of night-time images are said to be taken at the summit of the building.

One image shows a man sitting in the cab of a crane at the top of the giant glass skyscraper, which is due to be completed in June, while others show the trespassers climbing ladders running up the side of the towering structure.